Bremerton budget hearing could be fireworks-free

BREMERTON — Given the volume of the 2012 Bremerton budget process debate, Wednesday's budget adjustments could be relatively drama free.

The City Council votes Wednesday on a budget amendment, an annual tinkering of the city's expectations.

No city employees will be laid off, the big topic in December. The mayor's initial budget called for as many as 24 staff reductions, including some layoffs. The council ultimately pared that to nine.

This time around the biggest negative might be the Legislature's decision to withhold liquor excise taxes beginning in July, a $135,300 hit to Bremerton.

Overall, however, the year has matched or bettered expectations, according to Becky Hasart, financial services director.

The year began better than expected when the city's beginning general fund balance of $2.8 million was $552,611 better than budgeted for the annual $38.7 million general fund budget.

Some of that was because money expected to be spent in 2011 wasn't actually spent until this year. Hasart also said some of the savings were from city staff being cautious about spending.

Mayor Patty Lent said city staff members have taken into account how much employees have given back to the city in the form of furloughs and other compensation cuts.

"People were cognizant of all the people who gave something back," she said.

Fire employees gave the city $182,000 in labor concessions.

Not everything was positive. Besides the excise tax hit, the city has budgeted another $100,000 in extra costs for police to pursue the suspect involved in three stabbings, and another $115,000 to begin shoring up a contingency reserve fund depleted a year ago when the city paid $1.15 million to the county to settle a dispute over the Harborside Condominium project loan guarantees.

The overall budget, which includes the general fund, utilities, capital and other items, is $141.6 million. Wednesday's agenda classifies the budget adjustment impact as $11.2 million, but the vast majority of that comes from separating water utility operations and maintenance funds from capital funds. Those funds had previously been held in a single reserve fund.

The initial budget approved by the council in December delayed that until city budget officials could determine what the beginning balance was, Hasart said.

Some residents were alarmed leading up to the budget process because of a budget calendar published by the city. That calendar called for department directors to submit expected 2013 staffing levels to her department Monday. The language on the calendar, however, called it "staffing reductions/changes," leading some to wonder if the city were not planning to lay off more people at Wednesday's budget hearing.

Hasart said that language has been used for years to mark that point in the budget process, but will be changed next time around. She said there can be no real discussions about staffing levels until she and other budget staffers can project 2013 revenues sometime later this month.

Lent said another factor is ongoing labor negotiations with the Teamster's Union, which is scheduled for mediation Friday. The mayor said where the city's contract ends up on employee contributions to benefits and cost-of-living increases will play a role in how the city addresses staffing in 2013.